Spreading kindness and empowering young women to be a positive change in the community are just a couple of the things focused on by the PVHS chapter of Girls Learn International. Earlier in November, the group attended the official launch conference of Fearlessly Girl to learn more about improving social media and the movement that is tackling cyberbullying.

Fearlessly Girl is an anti-bullying organization, based in Canada and started by Kate Whitfield. The conference on November 17th was the official United States launch for the organization, where over 7,000 girls attended and watched via livestream from across the U.S. The assembly was the largest anti-bullying gathering ever held, and was hosted by Kate Whitefield and Quad Cities native and professional tennis player, Madison Keys. The women focused on topics like self-esteem issues, pressure to conform to societal beauty standards, and answered questions from participants pertaining to their personal lives.

While at the conference, the PVHS chapter of Girls Learn International was selected to receive the #kindcomments Award, which is part of a global initiative to prevent cyberbullying and promote positive activity on social media. The PV GLI club was honored with this award because of their displays of kindness on and off social media.

Representatives from the group, Lily Williams, Whitney Ankton, and Ramya Kumar were also interviewed by Keys and Whitfield about their experiences with GLI, and about what the group does to promote kindness.

Spartan Nation is proud of these inspiring young women for taking the initiative to make PV and the world a better place!

Spartan Nation is in the presence of award winning student journalists! Last month, the Honors Journalism and Publication students attended the Annual Fall Conference for Iowa High School Journalists, and left with a variety of awards. The Iowa High School Press Association selected Pleasant Valley as a finalist for the Iowa News Team of the Year, awarded them 2nd place for Yearbook of the Year, 1st place Yearbook Cover of the Year, and gave the team seven additional awards. Two individual students also claimed 1st and 3rd place in the On-the-Spot Newswriting Contest – Vivek Joshi in 1st, and Anna Banerjee in 3rd. Congratulations, journalists!

On Sunday, November 19th, over 100 PV students gathered at Riverdale Heights Elementary for the Robotics Showcase! This showcase is part of the PVHS Robotics team outreach to younger students to promote robotics and other aspects of STEM. Students from Cody, Riverdale Heights, PVJH, and PVHS were involved in the showcase.

Sunday was all about the younger students showing the work they’ve done up to this point, and giving them an opportunity to see what’s coming for them at the next level! The teams take time to learn about robotics and the different aspects building a functioning robot, but they also learn many lessons in teamwork, collaboration, and adaptability.

After the showcase, there was a Robotics themed carnival with concessions and other activities, like noodle and marshmallow model building and a paper bridge building competition. A big round of applause to all the students who participated, Spartan Nation can’t wait to see what you keep accomplishing in the Robotics world!

This year was a massive success for Pleasant Valley in the Student Hunger Drive! We are proud to announce that PV raised over 65,000 pounds of food for the hungry throughout the Quad Cities, and brought home first place in the Division A competition! Pleasant Valley also won the Mission Challenge portion of the competition, which included an essay and poster about the mission of the Hunger Drive, as well as the Most Improved award for improving pounds raised by 77%.

Spartan Assembly, the PVHS student council, spearheaded the efforts for this year’s drive. These efforts included a Survivor theme throughout the high school, different events for PV students and staff, a variety of community activities and involvement, and lots of encouragement to the junior high and elementary schools to raise as much as possible.

Student leaders in Spartan Assembly all thought the difference in numbers this year was simply because of community and school involvement. “Having more events helped so much,” senior Emma Horsfield said. “The new events targeted more people that aren’t usually involved and made all different types of groups want to participate.”

PVSD wants to thank all students, teachers, and families for their involvement in this year’s Student Hunger Drive. It is incredible to see the PV family come together to support the Quad Cities community and to make a difference in so many lives!

Spartan Nation is proud to have another state title from the XC team! The immense PV running talent was showcased on October 28th in Fort Dodge at the State Cross Country meet. After an intense race in the chilly weather, the Pleasant Valley Boys Cross Country avenged their performance from last year by winning the state title. Falling to Dowling Catholic by only two points during last year’s state meet, the runners came in to the race more motivated than ever to come out on top.

This championship is the first for the Boy’s XC since 2008, and the fourth title for the program. They claimed 61 points during the race, with five runners finishing in the top 20. Konnor Sommer came in fourth place, followed by Anthony Pena at ninth, Gavin Smith at 11th, Ian Kaffenberger at 18th, and Parker Huhn at 20th.

The Scott County Regional Authority awards hundreds of thousands of dollars of grants every year. Pleasant Valley Community School District is lucky enough to receive grants from this organization. Last year, PV was awarded several grants and now, one year later, we want to thank the SCRA, and update several of the projects.

Manufacturing Lab Machinery

With the use of SCRA grant funds, the Pleasant Valley metals lab added eight new three-in-one Lincoln MP 350 welders. They are capable of completing Stick welding, MIG welding, and TIG welding. This allows students access to practice and become proficient in the welding areas.

“Students will have basic skills and knowledge to help them enter a post-secondary educational program or work force if they desire,” Metals teacher Brandon Tolle said.

Students are in the process of using the new welders to create work tables.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest and AEDs

Pleasant Valley knows the importance of Automated External Defibrillators or AEDS. A former student went down while working out on the field. Help was there immediately and an AED was used within minutes. His life was saved because of the quick access to an AED and the medics were able to continue care upon their arrival.

Receiving the SCRA grant allowed PV to install an AED in every building in our district, including the Maintenance and Administration Centers.

“To me, knowing where an AED is located is the most important piece in an emergency situation,” PVHS Nurse Pam Cinadr said.

Having AEDs in each building adds a level of security when it comes to students, staff and visitors and the possibility of a sudden cardiac episode.

Electro-Charging Station for AP Physics 2

In Mr. Spangenberg’s Physics courses, students prove the equations in the textbook are real by using models. In Physics 1, it’s fairly easy. They can measure velocity and time by having students record how long it takes for a cart to go down a ramp. But, when it comes to Physics 2, the ideas are more abstract. It’s hard to show students electric and magnetic fields. That’s where the SCRA comes in. Mr. Spangenberg received a grant to purchase electron-charging stations. The stations allow students to experiment with electricity and actually see the positive and negative charges on a graph.

“Equations represent something real,” Mr. Spangenberg said. “And these stations allow students to see abstract ideas in a real form.”

The faculty and staff of Pleasant Valley Community High School are pleased to announce that the following seniors were recently honored as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program: Laura J. Brown, daughter of Jason and Rita Brown of Bettendorf; Vivek Joshi, son of Deepak and Janki Joshi of Bettendorf; Konnor Sommer , son of Kevin and Jill Sommer; Vishwajit Subramanian, son of Subramanian Trichy and Arathi Sharada Balagangadharan of Bettendorf; Sophia Xiao; daughter of Peter Xiao and Guo Li of Bettendorf.

To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and his or her high school must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT® scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on qualifying test.

From approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level and in February, they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this Finalist group. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.

Merit Scholarship winners of 2018 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join some 330,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.

Pleasant Valley High School was chosen out of all the schools in the nation for the Varsity Brands Spirit of Inclusion Award. On Friday, August 25, 2017, Varsity Brands, Herff Jones, Varsity Spirit and BSN Sports presented the award to the school. Along with it comes a $10,000 check, which will be used to establish a $1000.00 annual “PVHS Spirit of Inclusion” scholarship. The first scholarship will be granted to a member of the 2018 graduating class. Click on the pictures below for larger images.

Principal Mike Zimmer accepted the award with the following words:

Words. Words can be used to hurt or they can be used to heal. So it is I find myself struggling with the word “tolerance”, is it used to heal or to hurt? I can tolerate loud music but if I could, I would get rid of it. Over 8 years ago, PV Alumna Sarah Cronk, Sarah Herr, Kamyrn Huffman, Jenna Lehman and Brenna O’Neill under the leadership of Cheer Coach Ms. Pam Cinadr challenged our general tolerance of students with disabilities. Students with special needs would often eat lunch by themselves, have segregated courses, and were by-standers throughout High School.

These girls viewed their new service learning requirement as a challenge to change a small part of the world. They asked themselves, “What if we changed our perspective from tolerating our classmates with disabilities to respecting our classmates with “different abilities”? And so began the creation of a new Spartan Cheerleading Squad, “the Sparkles”. Including their classmates with different abilities has grown from the PVCSD to a national and worldwide movement that includes students at hundreds of high schools.

Their willingness to change their perspective towards students standing right next to them in school has expanded to the creation of the PVHS Shining Stars Dance Team and beyond. Including your classmates with different abilities was just a first step. Today I stand before you and state, “PVHS will no longer tolerate classmates who are different from ourselves, we will respect them as the precious and valued human beings they are”. While we will not always agree or understand others viewpoints, we will respect them regardless of different ability, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, race, financial status or appearance.

Just as the founders of the Sparkles sought to change our attitudes so has the UNITE Club. The have worked tirelessly to share personal stories of those classmates who struggle everyday against degrading words told as “a joke” or those being tormented on social media for being different. Our cafeteria will soon display the flags of 43 different nations representing the birth place of PVHS students. We can take great pride in the fact that parents new to our area seek out PVHS to educate their children. But our work will never be complete as all it takes is an individual or small group of people to undermine all of our efforts.

So it is with great humility and knowing that our journey of inclusion is not complete, that our purpose of establishing respect for all students continues. It continues with each of you (teachers, custodians, bus drivers, administration, aides and students) standing up to injustice with not being a by-stander but an up-stander.

Below is a video of the Varsity Brands School Spirit Awards when PVHS was announced as the winner.

This year, the Pleasant Valley Community School District is teaming up with school districts across the Quad Cities and the United Way to increase attendance. We encourage you to watch the one minute video below about the mission and importance of having students at school every day.

Thank you for making Challenge 5 Day a success! Working with the United Way, the Arconic Foundation, and schools across the Quad Cities, we beat attendance goals. 96.1% of students in the Quad Cities attended school on Wednesday, August 30, 2017. The daily average last year was 90.3%.

A special thank you to staff and volunteers for welcoming our students to school! Pleasant Valley will continue to highlight the importance of attendance, and we hope you will, too.

Studies show that fewer than 5 absences in a year keeps learning on track. More than 5 absences each school year, beginning in kindergarten, increases the risk of dropping out, and decreases the chance of graduating from high school. If a child misses up to five days of school, he or she can probably make up what he or she misses. However, a child missing 9 days of school is in the danger zone, and students missing 18 or more days are considered chronically absent.

Absenteeism is a real problem in the Quad Cities. Last year 19,811 students (out of 50,326) missed 9 days or more, or 39.4% of students.

These statistics point to the reasons why attending school every day is so important.

• More than 8 in 10 chronically absent kindergartners and first graders will not read at grade level by the end of third grade.
• Students not reading proficiently by third grade are 4 times more likely to not graduate high school.
• 3 out of 4 chronically absent sixth graders will never graduate high school.
• Plus, the habit of regular attendance is important for earning a college degree and keeping a job.

The Challenge 5 initiative seeks community support to help ensure kids get to school every day. Here are five easy tips for parents.

1. Set a regular bedtime.
2. Prep clothes and backpacks the night before.
3. Only keep children home if they are truly sick.
4. Have a back-up plan for getting to school.
5. Avoid scheduling doctor’s appointments and trips during school hours.

What a beautiful day to start school! We’re so glad you’re here! While Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors had the afternoon off, the Freshmen class learned about clubs and activities, as well as the layout of the building. Check out the pictures below from Wednesday, August 23, 2017.

Pleasant Valley Junior High

If you do not have a Portal account, please contact Susan Parks at 563-332-5550.

Pleasant Valley High School

The portal is now open for the 17-18 school year. Click here to access the Parent Portal.Please note: first semester schedules are posted on the portal. Just a reminder that the students’ schedules are based on staffing needs. Scheduling changes CANNOT be made at this time to accommodate students’ requests for a different teacher, to change electives, or to accommodate late arrival/early release preferences. Due to the fact that most of our classes are at capacity or over, we ask that students and parents be respectful of these guidelines.

Schedules will be available under reports. PLEASE NOTE: Due to class and faculty changes All STUDENTS 9-12 MUST check their updated schedule before August 23, 2017.

Please join us on Monday, August 21st at 7pm for Open House. Normally we allow students in the building earlier; however due to all the construction, we are not allowing students in the building until Monday, August 21st.

Lunch schedules will be posted the first day.

Elementaries

Parent Portal is now open for Elementary families to see teacher assignments. If you wish to open a parent portal account, please contact Susan Parks at 332-5550.
***Parents of incoming kindergarten students received a call on Monday, August 14th from the school office indicating their homeroom teacher assignment and assigned staggered start day.

The nearly 300 strong Pleasant Valley High School band put its program on the field for the first time, Wednesday, August 9, 2017. The powerful group enjoyed the beautiful weather as they worked hard to learn new music and new steps. Take a look at the pictures below and join them, Friday, August 11, 2017 at 8:00pm for the Sounds of the Stadium concert. You won’t want to miss the fun at Spartan Stadium.

The Pleasant Valley Community School Board has approved plans and bids for a major expansion and renovation at PVHS. Because of continued growth, PVHS needs more room for just about everything from science classrooms to music storage to athletic practice space. The project is scheduled to start in the spring of 2017 and be finished by the beginning of the 2018-19 school year.

Parking Update 8/10/2017: As construction continues, building entrances and parking options will continue to change. For the time being, we ask that you not use the gym or main entrance to enter the building for your own safety, as you will have to enter the construction site. Instead, we ask that you use the following doors: N1 (the cafeteria), W1 (the teacher’s entrance near the rear of the theatre), and S7 (the band entrance). Please click on the map below for clarity.

UPDATE 8/1/2017: Crews have been busy this summer, building the new commons area and digging for the new gymnasium. Click on the pictures below.

In May, crews started digging for the new gym.

All the dirt from the gym is moved to make new parking.

New parking lot east of PVHS

Check out the progress!

The front of the building in July

August 2017

August 2017

Click the slide show for larger images to see the designs.

West End of PVHS, current pool doors

New Entrance

Construction crews will build a tower in the current senior parking lot. The three story building will contain 10 classrooms (four of them state-of-the-art science rooms). A new auxiliary gym will be built in the same area, as the current D gym will have a new purpose. It will be split down the middle; half of it will be a new music rehearsal room and half of it will be a multi-purpose athletic room to provide space for practices like wrestling, dance and cheerleading.

Renovations also include a new main hallway which will connect the school from east to west. Currently, if you stand at the cafeteria and look west, the hallway ends at D Gym. Now, the hallway will continue through the current D gym and into the new addition, which will provide a much needed backbone to the building.

The main entrance will also get a face lift. A new commons area for student collaboration will be added to the front of the school, as well as a new main office. The guidance office will move into the old main office area, which will be renovated. The old guidance office will also undergo construction to be turned into new special education rooms.

As the new tower and gym will be built on the current senior parking lot, more parking will be added onto the new parking lot in the southeast corner of the High School.

This major expansion is just the first phase of what will likely be three phases at PVHS, adding more classrooms and possibly a competition gym. Renovations in those phases include a possible concert hall, as well.

We love to read. Books allow readers to travel back in time, to far away lands and to stretch the reader’s imaginations. During the school year students have a variety of resources, like peers, teachers and librarians to help find great book recommendations. What happens when they’re not around during the summer? Sometimes kids leave books behind for summer camps, vacations, different scheduled activities. Sometimes, kids just don’t know what to read. PV hopes the following ideas, links, and events will help you find more than one great book this summer.

LeClaire Library Summer Reading Program: Help the LeClaire Library Build a Better World! Early registration opens Monday May 22nd, but the first official day of our community-themed Summer Reading Program is June 5th. This program is for all ages – from babies to adults! In addition to the reading challenges, join us for a number of fun activities and programs throughout the summer. Check out for a full calendar of events.

Cody’s Summer Reading Challenge: Rocket, the school dog, wants to help you pick out the best books this summer. It’s our goal for Cody students to maintain the skills they acquired this year and truly develop into lifelong, lovers of books and reading! In order to avoid summer slide, Rocket would like to invite ALL Cody kids to join “Rocket’s Summer Reading Challenge 2017!” Cody teachers are hoping to help you pick out the best books for you. Find out how à Click here to learn about the program!

Hopewell’s Book on the Go: Go to http://bookonthego.weebly.com/ to check out 12 titles with different genres, for different ages (4th-7th grade students). Students chose these books because when they read them, they were strongly impacted by the messages from the story plots. This summer reading program will kick off on May 30th and run through the entire summer. The final day of this program is August 23. Read the books and vote for a favorite at the end of the summer! We need you! We are excited about this adventure and hope you will join us for this summer reading journey.

These are the only days that PVHS will allow an Open Campus. Lunch will be served at the HS but students may leave for lunch and return.

Students will NOT be allowed to change testing periods without Administrative approval. They MUST take their exam at their assigned time by period. Students will be allowed to receive extra help or clarification from individual teachers during the resource periods. Students remaining at school during non-testing periods have the option to study in the library, stay in the cafeteria or let off some tension by using one of the gyms.

The following courses have approved semester exams waive options:

10-12th Band may play at graduation as their final

9th Band may play at the Memorial Day observance as their final

Band students not participating in either of these options MUST report to school and complete a written final.

Chamber Singers, Concert Choir, Women’s Ensemble may sing at graduation as their final.

PV Singers and those not performing at graduation will have a written final.

When the Pleasant Valley Educational Foundation started 25 years ago, just two students received a scholarship – one boy and one girl were each awarded $500. A lot has changed during the quarter of century. On May 10, 2017, the PVEF awarded scholarships to 79 Pleasant Valley High School seniors, totaling nearly $85,000.

“This is a celebration of the 79 seniors, but also of the people who elected to invest their resources in the development of our future young leaders,” PVEF President Dave Borcherding said. “As with any investment, these generous donors are expecting a return on that investment. Your return to them is dedicating yourself to lifelong learning and using that learning to find the opportunities for which you are destined to provide the solutions.”

During the ceremony, families honored their loved ones, businesses thanked the community and all sent the message that PV supports its students now and will into the future.

“You know we’re proud of you,” Superintendent Dr. Jim Spelhaug said. “We also have expectations for you. One of the reasons we award these scholarships is to remind you that it isn’t on your own that you’ve gotten to where you are. Faculty, family and the community have stood beside you. Our expectation is that you will go out into the world and stand beside someone else who needs it.”

Pleasant Valley Community School District believes in the best educational experience “not for some kids, but for all kids,” and the Foundation’s scholarship program represents that belief. Scholarship recipients represent the entire 2017 class. While some scholarships are awarded to top level students, scholarships are also awarded for character and work ethic. Most awardees are students with a drive to succeed with a wide range interests from medicine to music to mechanics.

One of the presenters, Dr. Radhika Kolla, spoke of her mother-in-law and why her family chose to honor her with a scholarship. Hashmat Siddiqui grew up during India’s independence from the British Empire. Millions were uprooted from their homes, including Hashmat. However, she was determined to get an education even though many girls stayed home from school fearing for their safety. Hashmat went on to earn a Masters in Geography and Islamic studies and became an educator. Dr. Kolla said her mother-in-law’s determination is inspiring and emphasized the need for diverse ways of thinking. (Read the stories behind every scholarship at pleasval.org/foundation/.)

The PVEF raises funds through a golf outing in April, the road race Run with Carl in September, and through dozens of families and businesses who’ve chosen to endow scholarships. If you are interested in learning more about the PVEF, please contact Secretary Beth Marsoun at marsounbeth@pleasval.k12.ia.us.

The journalists working on the Spartan Shield have upped their game this year. For the first time, they’re publishing their work online and for the first time they held a live broadcast on election night. Their work is paying off. They have been named one of five All-Iowa News Team Finalists by the Iowa High School Press Association. The team will submit a portfolio of printed work, as well as their work online, and judges will make a decision by the fall.

Meantime, PV students are also being recognized for their individual journalistic work.

Sam Lundry, “How we got here”, 1st place in Editorial Writing
Cassie Berta “Starving for perfection”, 2nd place in Editorial Writing
Lauren Brewer “Education in Iowa”, 1st place in Editorial Cartoon; and 3rd place for her cover featuring Cyberbullying.
Jarrin Flores & staff — best high school news site, 3rd place (not to shabby for a first year website)

Seniors Hannah Humes and Joshua Bowman have been selected to represent PVHS in the Governor’s Scholar Recognition Program. Students across the state who are the highest academic achievers in their schools, regardless of gender or participation in extracurricular activities, are awarded this honor.

Hannah and Joshua are invited to attend a ceremony where they will meet the Governor and be recognized for their academic success.

The Governor’s Scholar Recognition Program is a join effort between the Governor’s Office, the Iowa High School Athletic association, and its title sponsor, Iowa Farm Bureau.